Drops of Jupiter
by Igno
Summary: After Spike's assult of the Red Dragon Syndicate, a bounty hunting group picks him and nurses him back to health, and Spike and Kent work to beat the clock to get a new crewmember and ally. Please Read & Review. Please? I'll give you a cookie. . .


  


Drops of Jupiter   
Written by Kent Bogar   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The hammer racheted forward, it's pointed end hitting the back of the bullet, igniting the gunpowder, launching the tip out of the gun. At almost incomprehensible speeds, the bullet pierced Vicious' skin, went through his lung, and out his back.   
And with that, Vicious died, by Spike's hand. The only way it could have ended.   
Spike smiled and began hobbling down the stairs the best he could. A group of people from the syndicate had gathered at the bottom of the staircase. He morbidly thought of some famous last words. He could only think of one thing to say, though.   
He walked as far down the stairs as he could, and pointed in the general direction of the group, his forefinger and thumb extended, like a gun.   
"Bang." He said. He smiled, then collapsed in a heap on the stairs.   
In the sky, a star slowly faded out. Two next to it began to fade out. But it seemed in the last seconds, they came back to life.   
A man saw this, and smiled. He sat in his Swordfish III, almost like Spike's, but black in color. Still smiling, the man began rushing for a city on Mars, passing the Bebop on the way. 

Jet looked for something deep and thoughtful to say. But nothing came to him. It was only he and Faye left. Ed had left with Ein for some reason, and Spike had run off to get himself killed. Or at least that's what Faye's take on it was.   
"Ya' know, I've never really told anyone this," Jet began, "But besides being partners, we also played together."   
Faye looked up at Jet. She looked terrible.   
"Not like kid type play, though. Actually, that's how we met. Believe it or not, Spike played sax and I played trombone. I guess we just walked into the right club at the right time. There was a huge jam session, one thing led to another, and. . .well, the rest, as they say, is history."   
"Spike played sax?" Faye asked.   
"Oh, yeah. he was good. Really good. He played bari sax for some jazz band, the Lap Belts or something like that." Jet smiled, and let out an involuntary laugh. "If I remember right, he'd still have that thing in his room."   
"You know, I've never seen his room." Faye said, sniffing.   
"Now that you mention it, neither have I." Jet replied, and sighed. "We'd have to clean it out sooner or later. Might as well check it out."   
"Yeah."   
Both of them got up and walked towards Spike's room, in the back of the ship. When Jet opened the door, we was utterly surpassed. So surpassed, in fact, that he burst out laughing.   
"I can't believe this. Now I know what he was using his money on."   
Faye looked inside, and couldn't help but laugh herself. Inside of Spike's room, an entire wall was taken up by cases of all sorts. On the opposite wall, the corresponding instrument was hung. On the back wall, pictures of him in different jazz bands plastered the wall. Decorating the door side of the wall was a stereo with all sorts of jazz CD's, a chair, a music stand, and a filing cabinet filled with music. There was also a desk against the wall, covered in manuscript paper. A neat pile of paper laid on top of it.   
Jet looked at the pile of papers on the desk, walking towards it. "Ya' know. . .Spike was one weird guy." He paged through the stack of papers. "Spike was a freakin' composer. . .what we have on our hands is Spike's own jazz ballad. . .'My Dear Julia'." 

Spike felt like he had been hit with a sledgehammer after a hard night of drinking. He rubbed his head, and sat up, before realizing one fairly major fact.   
"I should be dead."   
"Very true." He heard someone say.   
Spike spun around on the bed he was laying on, snapping into his fighting position. As soon as he saw his would be assailant, he laughed.   
It was a girl, maybe eighteen, nineteen at the most.   
"And just who are you?" He asked, sitting back down.   
"Well, Spike, I'm Corrie, and right now, you're on the Black Knight."   
Being as out of it as he was, Spike accepted the explanation. "And why aren't I dead?"   
"Colin, our pilot, managed to break some speed records, not to mention many, many laws to get you to our infirmary."   
"Right." Spike said, and laid back down. "Do you have any aspirin?"   
"I dunno; I'll check."   
Corrie walked out of the room. Spike looked at her, almost studying her. She was only about five one, and weighed maybe a hundred pounds. Maybe. She had shoulder length blonde hair and walked quickly but quietly.   
"Oh, I almost forgot," She said, spinning around. She had golden brown eyes and pearly white teeth.   
"Shit, was I staring?" Spike thought. "Yeah?" He asked.   
"What size clothes do you wear? Yours were. . .um. . .unsalvageable."   
"Twelve thirty three." Spike replied.   
"Thanks." Corrie said, smiled, and walked out of the room.   
Spike stretched, and got up. Luckily, he was clad in boxers, at least, and a. . .most interesting shirt. He walked over to a mirror to look at himself.   
"Santa Clara Vanguard 2001." He mouthed. "What the hell is Santa Clara Vanguard?"   
Unanswered, he walked to the hallway, where he heard a TV on. He followed the sound, hoping he could find some sort of entertainment. Or at least see if he made the news.   
As he padded into the living room, he saw three people sitting on the couch. Two of them were men, one obviously lighter than the other, and another girl. She was about the same size as Corrie, but had chest length brown hair, darker brown eyes than Corrie, and was a tiny bit more full figured than Corrie.   
One of the men looked up to see Spike. "Welcome back to the land of the living."   
Spike grunted, and joined them on the couch. "What's on?"   
"Nada." The bigger guy said. He had hair about as long as Spike's but kept it more tame than Spike did. The kid seemed to be nineteen, maybe twenty. His hair was brown, was trying to grow a goatee, and was quite. . .large. The other one was the other kid's age, maybe a year older. He had blue eyes, spiky blonde hair, and looked ripped.   
It looked like the bigger one had just gotten back from somewhere. He was wearing his high school's letterman's jacket. It was red with gray sleeves, and had a similarly colored F on it. On the opposite chest, it had his name, Kent, and his graduating year. Spike couldn't make it out.   
"Hey, hold the phone. . ." Kent said, looking at Spike. "Why do you have my SCV shirt on?"   
"I dunno. I had it on when I woke up."   
"Oh, really. . ." Kent said, looking at the girl. "Alyssa, did you have something to do with this? You know it's my favorite shirt. . ."   
"Me?" Alyssa asked.   
"Yeah." Kent replied.   
"Of course not." Alyssa replied. "I'll bet Colin did, though."   
"Colin. . ." Kent said.   
"Ya?" Colin replied, putting his feet up on the coffee table.   
"I loathe you."   
"I love you too," Colin said. "In a distant, hands-off sorta way."   
Spike inwardly smiled. "Just like the Bebop." he thought. "Hey, anyone got a cigarette?"   
"Nope." All three of them said in unison.   
"How 'bout food?" Spike asked.   
"We have some food, sure." Colin said, followed by his stomach grumbling. "If you look hard enough."   
Spike smiled. "Just like the Bebop."   
Just then, Corrie came out of somewhere, a bottle of aspirin in hand. "Oh, I see you've gotten up."   
"Yup." Spike said. He'd taken root in the couch, anyway. Corrie shrugged, and sat in a recliner right next to the couch.   
"Introductions are in order, I believe." Corrie said. "Skinny guy at the end is Colin. Girl in the middle is Alyssa. Guy next to her is Kent. You're next to him, and I'm next to you. We've officially been introduced."   
"I feel the love." Kent said. "Can you change the channel?"   
"Nope." Alyssa replied.   
"Alyssa, change the channel." Kent repeated.   
"No." Alyssa said.   
"Change the channel."   
"No."   
"God damn it. . ." Kent dove for the remote, which Alyssa still had a firm hold on. "Give it up, woman!"   
"No way!" Alyssa shouted back. They rolled off the couch and began rolling on the floor, both vying for control of the remote. Colin and Corrie seemed to not even notice this.   
In a gross miscalculation, the remote shot out of Alyssa's hand. She tried to grab it, but she barely missed it. Kent tried to get it, with both hands, but missed both times.   
The remote almost flew into Spike's hand. He didn't even bat an eye; he just changed the channel to something semi entertaining, and put his feet up on the coffee table. Kent and Alyssa sheepishly rejoined Colin and Spike on the couch.   
"So much for that."   
"Hey, wait a minute. . ." Corrie began. "Where'd Stacy run off to?" 

"Get back here!" Stacy shouted, gun in hand. "You are so mine!" She was chasing her bounty worth 500,000 woolongs. It wasn't a whole lot, but it would buy some food.   
"Why didn't Alyssa come with me?" She almost asked aloud as her bounty turned a corner, and stumbled. Stacy stood over him and slapped a pair of handcuffs on him.   
"500,000 in the bank." She said.   
"Now, who the hell are you?" Stacy heard someone ask. She spun around to see the one and only Faye Valentine, gun in hand. "That's my bounty!"   
"Like hell it is!" Stacy replied. "I chased his ass down, he's mine."   
"I'm the pro here," Faye said, "He's mine!"   
"Yeah, over my dead body!"   
"Hey, it's your request." Faye said, and shot at Stacy. Her mistake was looking away as she did it, because Stacy had just disappeared.   
Faye just looked the alleyway as Jet came up behind her. "Hey, uhh, Faye, what just happened?"   
"I just got hosed." She replied. "Hardcore." 

Jet sighed as he set down two plates of rice, beef, and bell peppers. "This is all we have. We need to find a bounty, fast."   
Faye looked at her plate. "I still can't believe he's gone."   
"You liked him, didn't you?" Jet asked, taking a bite of his rice.   
"What?" Faye asked, angry. "I just lost a bounty to some. . .some. . .hussy, Spike is dead, and you ask me if I liked him!?"   
Jet coyly smiled. "You did."   
"I did not!" Faye said, then sighed. "Yes. I did. How did you know?"   
"Besides the fact you two fought like you were married," Jet smiled, and looked up at her. "The rest. . .I guess you could call intuition."   
"Somehow, I always knew Spike was into the blues. . .they fit him." Faye said. "If there's one thing that I remember from way back in the day. . ." She looked off into space, letting memories almost carry her away. Jet could see a far away look in her eyes.   
"Umm. . .Faye. . .what do you remember?" He asked, out of curiosity more than anything.   
Faye looked at Jet and smiled. "Vibes."   
Jet laughed. "Please, oh please don't tell me you want to play that song. . ."   
Faye smiled even wider. Jet shared her sentiment.   
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Which was very odd, since they were still on the Bebop.   
"Umm. . .I'll get it. . ." Jet uneasily said, and walked to the port side door and opened it. In the pouring rain was the silhouette of a woman. Lightning flashed. Faye looked over just in time to see it, and gasped.   
"Julia?" 

"You know, Spike," Colin said as Spike landed Colin's Swordfish, Stacy in tow, her card charged with woolongs. "If I didn't know you were an adept pilot, I'd be forced to kill you."   
Spike made something of a laughing sound, then jumped out of the Swordfish. Suprisingly enough, he was clad in one of Kent's wardrobes: dark brown shorts that barely covered his knees, his homecoming 2001 shirt, and a pair of old Adidas shoes.   
"Wow." Kent said, walking into the hangar.   
"What can I say?" Spike said. "They were the only things that fit me. . .for the most part," he looked at the waist of his shorts, cinched obscenely tight.   
Stacy followed Spike out of the Swordfish. "We eat well tonight!" She exclaimed, holding up her 500,000 woolongs.   
"Nice!" Colin and Kent said in unison.   
"So, where we going?" Spike asked, hands in pockets.   
"I think I know just the place. . ." 

Julia looked at Faye, her blonde hair absolutely soaking wet.   
"So, he's dead?" She asked.   
Faye solemnly nodded.   
Julia shook her head, and meekly smiled. "I always knew that he'd go off and get himself killed."   
Jet absently listened to the two girls. He was more or less enthralled in Spike's piece of music. "This is absolutely. . .amazing. . ."   
"Jet?" Faye asked, walking into Spike's room, where Jet was standing. "What are you doing?"   
"I'm looking at this." Jet replied, not looking up from the score. "This is still absolutely amazing. . ."   
"Maybe we could sell it for money." Faye said, in a tone suggesting "it's getting annoying, give it a rest".   
Jet sighed, and put the score down. "Maybe you're right. But then again, maybe you're not. Maybe he's still alive out there, somewhere. That's what I'd like to think."   
Faye looked at Jet with a look of wonder. "How can you be so damned optimistic?"   
"It's a gift." 

"Wow." Spike said. "This place wasn't hit very hard at all, was it?"   
"Naa." Kent replied. "These guys know how to keep this place nice and clean, so most of the stuff from way back is still here, like Dick's. Best burgers in Spokane, Washington. And you can get billions of 'em for not much at all."   
Alyssa, Corrie, and Colin walked towards Kent's car, each with five bags, loaded with burgers.   
"And dinner's here." Kent got in the driver's seat, Spike in shotgun.   
"Just like the old days, eh?" Colin asked, passing around a bag.   
"Oh, yeah." Kent replied. Spike saw Kent was wearing his letterman's jacket. He tried to look at the year without being noticed. When he saw it, it didn't matter.   
"You graduated in 2004!?" Spike asked, suprised.   
"Yup." Kent replied. "So did Colin. Stacy, Corrie, and Alyssa graduated in 2003."   
"Bu. . .bu. . .bu. . ." Spike stammered. "It's 2071!"   
"Yeah." Colin replied. "Should I tell the story?"   
"Go ahead." Alyssa replied.   
"Alright," Colin began. "One of our friends, one Casey Crestline, was essentially murdered by her boyfriend, homecoming night, 2002. Well, Casey was the first person actually put into cryogenic stasis with the hope of someday being revived."   
"And what about you?" Spike asked.   
"We're all good friends of Casey's." Kent continued. "So, after we graduated high school, we put ourselves in cryogenic stasis so that Casey wouldn't feel too out of place. When we woke up, we found out that about six months earlier, Casey had been thawed out and subsequently kidnaped by her boyfriend's grandson, for reasons none of us can hope to understand. So, we've been chasing them for about six months, coming up with leads here and there."   
"Which leads us to you, Spike." Alyssa said. "We found out you were one of the best bounty hunters out there. Unfortunately, while we were trying to contact you, Julia was. . .uhh. . .shot."   
The car became almost deathly silent.   
"Before we could revive her, somebody else took her, we think it's the same guy who took Casey. Anyway, you stormed the syndicate, and we were able to revive you. And here we are now, eating in our old hometown."   
Corrie tried to smile. "Not even Ferris is the same. It's like everything has changed."   
Kent sighed. "I wanna check it out."   
"What?" Colin asked.   
"Ferris." 

Ferris was one of the only schools left on earth. Earth might have been ravaged, but Spokane wasn't hit very hard at all. Every once in a while, a piece about the size of a quarter would come down and dig up someone's yard.   
Kent pulled into the Ferris parking lot. The auditorium was still in the same place, and he also assumed that school got out the same time it normally did, about two o'clock.   
"Anyone wanna come in?" Kent asked.   
"I suppose we could all go in," Spike offered his input.   
"Works for me." Kent said, and got out of the car. He was actually pretty suprised his dad wanted him to have his car when he was frozen. It was a 1992 Nissan Maxima, in almost prestine condition.   
Kent sighed. His younger brother would be eighty-four. He, himself was eighty-seven, but he only looked about as old as he was his senior year.   
"Wow. Sure has changed." Corrie observed.   
"Yeah, no kidding." Colin replied.   
"Well, shall we?" Kent asked, leading the way into the auditorium. He walked into the band room, school having just gotten out. The band room hadn't changed a whole lot since the last time he saw it; it was still relatively small. The six drum heads signed by their respective drumlines were still up on the wall, along with a couple more added since he had been there.   
Apparently, the Ferris drumline's amount of skill went in a cycle.   
The kids that were leaving the room cast them odd looks as they left. Finally, Kent saw what he had hoped to find. They were still there, even though his old band teacher was gone.   
The slot he kept his music in had been taped off with stick tape, and crudely labeled "Kent's stuff. Don't touch."   
"Wow, it's been a while since I've looked at this stuff." He said, and removed the tape.   
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Kent heard someone ask. He turned around to see the new band teacher.   
"Oh, my god." Kent said. "J-lo, is that you?"   
J-lo was the nickname of one of his friends, James Lowe, back in the day.   
James looked at him in an odd way. "Kent, is that you?"   
"Sir yes sir." Kent mockingly said. "How've you been?"   
"It's been boring, to tell you the truth." James replied. "After you were frozen, it all went downhill."   
"Figures." Kent mused. "How's the band been?"   
"It's been decent." James replied. "This is my last year; I'm really friggin' old, being eighty-eight and all."   
"Yeah." Kent replied. "Man, I miss the old days."   
"Oh, yeah," James said. "How's Casey doing?"   
"Dunno." Kent said. "She's been kidnapped."   
"Really." James said. "I'd love to help, but. . .I'm just too old. . ."   
"Understandable." Kent said. "Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat, but, we gotta go."   
"We?" James asked.   
"Yeah. Alyssa, Colin, and Corrie came by, along with our newest member, Spike Speg. . .where did they run off to, anyway?" 

Alyssa, Colin, and Corrie were amazed at Spike. He had. . .just picked up a sax and started playing some random song. Soon enough, he stopped playing, set it down, and looked at Alyssa and Corrie.   
"What, haven't you ever seen a sax player before?"   
Kent leaned against the door frame to the auditorium door. "Man, do I feel old."   
"You should." James replied. 

Casey was aboard Andy's ship. He had picked her up about six months ago from her "cold sleep", as it was dubbed. But, the odd thing was that she couldn't remember a thing.   
Andy smiled at Casey. He was playing off her amnesia. She was a very pretty girl, and would rake in some good money once he got her on the streets. Of course, she didn't know it. For now, however, he was "faking" being head over heels in love with her. For the most part, she had bought it, and had fallen in love with him. At this point, they were six months away from their wedding, on Casey's eighteenth birthday. After that, Andy would start his business again.   
Man, his grandfather, Sean, was right. She was easy to manipulate. Well, Casey would carry the Edgar name after all.   
Andy evilly smiled. "I love my job." He thought. 

Meanwhile, the crew of the Bebop was actually smiling. Julia was asleep on the couch in a pair of Faye's more "conservative" clothes, a pair of jeans, high heeled boots, and a tank top. Covering her was one of Jet's blankets. Meanwhile, Faye was getting the Swordfish II ready for takeoff. She had always wanted to fly Spike's ship, and here was her chance.   
"You sure you can handle it? Spike let my fly it once and I could hardly keep it tamed."   
"I can handle it," Faye defiantly said.   
Jet silently thanked the stars he had insurance on the Swordfish.   
The Bebop was chasing a ship identical to theirs, only painted in a dull gray paint, known back in the day as "primer". The bounty: 1,500,000 woolongs on Andrew Edgar for prostituting minors.   
And boy, was Jet ever gonna love taking this guy in. He absolutely hated this kind of stuff, girls would get involved with the sad guy, hoping to make his life just a little bit better. Before they knew it, they were on the streets selling themselves so the creep can earn a living. Sent shivers down his spine about what people did to those girls.   
"Faye, get ready to launch. I've got a visual."   
"Heh. I was born ready."   
Faye threw the throttle of the Swordfish into full throttle. The engines screamed as the Swordfish sat in the hangar bay.   
"Do you know how to fly that thing!?" Jet screamed.   
"Of course!" Faye yelled back, seconds before she ever so eloquently "dumped the clutch".   
Jet almost exploded. "Faye, get in the goddamned Redtail before we loose our bounty!"   
Faye swore, shut the Swordfish down, jumped into the Redtail, and quickly took off after the Bebop clone. 

More than anything right now, Kent wanted sleep. He'd seen enough of his old stomping grounds to last him a lifetime. He could feel himself falling asleep. Oh, he was gonna sleep forever.   
"Kent person!" Kent heard from his comm. He grimaced, and turned over in his bed to look right at Ed and Ein.   
"Hey. How's the business going?" He groggily asked.   
"It's going good, Kent person." Ed replied.   
"So, what do you have for me?" Kent asked.   
"Ed found Casey person!"   
Kent's heart skipped a beat. "Where?"   
"Jupiter!" Ed said, drawing the U out unusually long.   
"Jupiter, eh?" Kent repeated.   
"Yep-yep!"   
"Anything else I should know?" Kent asked.   
"Yes! Bebop is after the bounty, too!"   
"What bounty?" Kent asked, now actually interested.   
"Andrew Edgar! For selling people like Faye-Faye!"   
Kent put a couple things in his head together. "Sean Edgar, Casey's date homecoming. . .Andy Edgar. . .selling people like Faye-Fa. . ." Kent's eyes grew to the size of saucers.   
"Ed, get me the fastest flight plan with my Swordfish."   
Ed smiled one of her whole face grins, and a flight plan came up. Kent printed it, threw on his suit, and grabbed the key to his ship.   
"Thanks, Ed." Kent said.   
"Yep-yep!" Ed said, and closed the comm link.   
Finally, Sean was gonna get what was coming. . .through his grandson, of course, but still. . .Sean knew Kent liked Casey, so he took the only thing that mattered.   
He almost stormed to his ship, only to run into Spike, smoking a cigarette.   
"Where you off to?" Spike asked, not even looking up from the floor.   
"That's my business." Kent replied.   
Spike slyly smiled. "I heard your conversation with Ed."   
Kent growled, not looking up from his task at hand.   
"The ol' lost love bit, eh?"   
Kent spun around, and looked at Spike.   
"Let me give you a word of advice," Spike began. "Don't let her out of your sight."   
Kent just disregarded Spike's comment, opened the bay door, and launched his Swordfish.   
Spike looked as Kent's Swordfish dashed towards the gate. Nonchalantly, he got into Colin's newer Swordfish III, faster, more agile, and more heavily armed then Kent's ship.   
He wasn't gonna let Kent relive his own nightmare. It was his, goddammit, and he wasn't letting it go. 

Kent had waited for this for too long. He shouldn't have let her go. But nooo, he had to go off and be a loving, respectful boyfriend.   
Wow. He'd never thought of it that way. At any rate, Sean didn't think that way. So, Kent wasn't gonna kill Sean, but it was the next best thing, eh?   
Until he saw Kent's Swordfish III pass him, Spike in the cockpit. Well, so much for Kent's power trip.   
"Spike, if you can get in and distract whoever's in there, I'll get Casey and we'll be gone before anyone knows we're in."   
"Works for me." Spike replied. 

Jet had set the Bebop for autopilot and had taken up Spike's Swordfish. Faye didn't know how to fly it, but Jet sure did. He did more repairs on that than anything.   
"Whoa," Jet said, looking at the radar display. "I guess they have fighters. I'm reading a Swordfish II and a Swordfish III."   
"Do we stand a chance?" Faye asked.   
"Against the firepower those things have, no." Jet replied.   
"You do now." They both heard Julia say from the new deck gun of the Bebop. "I'll cover your entry."   
Faye smiled. "I like the sound of that." 

"Casey, go!" Andy shouted.   
"Where?" Casey asked, panicky.   
"I don't care, anywhere!" Andy angrily yelled, taking up his fully automatic handgun. "I gotta take care of business." 

Kent grabbed the sword out of his cargo compartment and slowly opened the door. Satisfied it was safe, he walked into the room.   
"Hello, Kent." He heard someone say. "I'm afraid Casey's not gonna be leaving. Now that I think about it, neither will you, for that matter."   
"That's what you think, Edgar." Kent replied, spinning around to face Andy, his gun pointed right at his chest.   
"That's what I know." Andy replied. "If you leave now, I won't kill you."   
"That sounds almost appealing." Kent said. "But I'm not leaving without Casey."   
Andy sighed. "I guess I'm gonna have to kill you, then."   
Kent smiled. "Bring it, then. Let's see if you're like your granddad, eh? All talk and no walk. Banged a chick at seventeen. Had to drop high school."   
Andy's face contorted in rage. "God damn it, I'm gonna kill you!"   
Andy then found Spike's gun nestled in his curly hair. "Naa, you're gonna come with us."   
"Aww, dammit!" Andy shouted.   
"I'll get Casey, you get Andy outta here and get us our cash."   
"Rightey-o." Spike replied. 

In this strange, new time, Casey felt so alone. She was the only one from her time left, and she was only, what, seventeen? She curled up on the bed and almost began to cry.   
"Honey, I'm home!" She heard a familiar voice. She could almost place it, too. She rolled over on the bed, and looked at the person. Suprised, she actually rolled off the bed.   
Kent offered Casey a hand. Cautiously, she took it, not sure if he was real or her mind.   
"Don't worry, I still don't bite."   
Casey took Kent's hand. He was real enough. She looked at him, tears welling up in her eyes.   
"What happened to you?" She asked, nearly choking up.   
"I couldn't leave you alone." Kent replied. "Neither could Colin, Corrie, Alyssa, or Stacy."   
"You're all here?" She asked.   
Kent nodded.   
Casey smiled in appreciation. 

"Yeah. . .that'd be perfect." Kent thought. Finally, the ship came into view, the Bebop hot on it's tail, the Redwing flying circles around it. The Swordfish III darted by him.   
"I figured you'd come along." Kent said. "Hold the Bebop off while I go in and get Casey."   
"That's what I do best," Spike replied, going after the Redwing.   
Kent grimaced, and piloted the Swordfish II towards the bay of the ship. Suprisingly, the bay opened, letting him land almost too easily. Cautiously, he opened the cockpit, took his gun out of his holster, and slowly walked for the door. Gingerly, he opened the door to see two heads silhouetted in the glow of a TV.   
Kent simply looked at the two people. "Casey?" he asked.   
The lights switched on, and they both turned around to look at Kent.   
"Honey, who's that?" Casey asked.   
"I think I know who it is." Andy replied, got up from the couch, and walked over to a stunned Kent.   
Kent snapped out of his daze. "What's going on here?"   
"Well, Kent," Andy said. "My grandfather, Sean, talked to me a little bit about Casey and you."   
Kent scoffed. "Did he." He said, rather than asked.   
"Yeah. Anyway, I hate to break your heart, but, Casey's forgotten everything, and for some reason, she's fallen in love with me."   
"And. . ." Kent began, not liking where this was going.   
"We're getting married in six weeks."   
Kent's heart skipped a beat. "Married?"   
"Yes. I'm sorry, but. . .things just turned out that way." Andy apologetically said. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll send you an invitation to the wedding."   
Kent nodded. "Yeah. . .thanks. . ."   
He just walked into the hanger to his ship, and took off for the Black Knight. 

Kent ambled onto the ship, his spirits in shambles. Suprisingly enough, everyone was awake, watching TV, even Spike.   
"Didja get the bounty?" Colin asked.   
Kent shoved him out of the way, and went right to his room. "I don't wanna talk about it."   
"What happened?" Alyssa asked Spike.   
"I couldn't tell you." Spike answered.   
"I'd better go talk to him." Corrie said, and knocked on Kent's door. "You okay?"   
No reply. She opened the door to find Kent looking at his yearbooks. "Sixty-seven years we lost, and she doesn't even remember my name."   
"What?" Corrie asked.   
Kent looked up at Corrie. "We've wasted away our adolescence. She doesn't know who I am. And the worst part is, she and that Andy. . .pimp are getting married on her eighteenth birthday."   
"What?" Corrie asked, suprised.   
"They're getting married. I've wasted my life for nothing. My friends, my family, my school. . ."   
Kent stood up and looked down at Corrie from his towering six feet one inch. "You know what it feels like to have your boyfriend completely forget who you are?"   
Corrie just looked at Kent. "Yeah, that's what I thought."   
"Well. . .what are you going to do about it?"   
"What can I do? She doesn't know me. She doesn't know you. The only person she knows is Andy."   
Kent walked out of his room, his head hanging. He walked pass the group before going to the hanger. "Spike, you need to show me the fine art of drowning one's sorrows in alcohol."   
"Don't mind if I do." Spike said, joining him.   
"Poor kid," Corrie said, walking in on the group. "Casey doesn't remember a thing." 

Jet and Faye walked into a bar. They were broke. Dirt broke. So they came here, where Spike always went to drown his sorrows. By coincidence, Kent and Spike were in the same bar. Faye sat down next to Kent, Jet next to Faye.   
"Hey," Kent said.   
"Hey, Kent." She replied, noticing something was wrong. "What's wrong?"   
"Casey. She doesn't remember a thing, and they're getting married."   
Jet looked at Kent. "I could always talk to the ISSP, see if I can't stop the. . ."   
"It's no use." Kent replied. "Besides, it's a huge respect issue. I figure if I respect her, I should let her marry who she wants."   
Jet and Faye looked at Kent for a second. "Aren't you a little young to be drinking?"   
"I need to drown my sorrows."   
Kent, Faye, and Jet knew each other from a run in they had with each other on earth, quite literally. Kent crashed into Faye's ship, they got into a shouting match, and the rest was history.   
"Well, at least you didn't pull a Spike. You could be dead."   
"Good point." Kent said.   
"Hey, have you even touched your drink?" Jet asked.   
Kent looked at his glass. "I took a sip, then remembered I hate beer."   
"Hey," Faye began. "How did you and your crew get your memories back?"   
"Beforehand, we all picked a powerful song, one that we would remember. The theory was, if you heard the song, the music would move you to remember everything."   
"Well, here's a thought." Faye said. "Sneak in as the DJ for this wedding. Play a song you know she liked."   
Kent sighed. "That's not the Edgar's style. They're gonna have. . .a. . .band. . ." Kent slowed down. "And I'm a conductor. . ."   
"I play trombone," Jet offered.   
"I have two trumpet players, a bari and clarinet player," Kent recited.   
"We've also got a pianist." Faye said.   
"Guys," Kent said, "I think we're gonna play at the Crestline Edgar wedding. . ."   
"What are we playing?" Spike asked, then quickly shut up.   
"Who was that?" Jet asked. "That sounded an awful lot like Spike. . ."   
"That was my. . .uhh. . .twin brother, James. He looks exactly like Spike. His exact twin, one might say. They say everyone has one somewhere."   
"Oh. Really." Faye said. "Nice to meet you, James."   
"You, too." Spike said. Kent backed away so Spike, Faye, and Jet could shake hands.   
"Anyway, we're playing a song called Drops of Jupiter. It's the first song we ever danced to, and she was always in tears when she hears it."   
"Perfect." Faye said. "You have the music?"   
"Umm. . .no."   
"I'll write it." Spike offered.   
"Faye, you play vibes, right?" Jet asked.   
"Yup. I was one of the best."   
"Nice. . ." Kent said. "Casey's comin' home!" 

Spike and Kent worked feverishly. They locked themselves in Kent's room with two twenty-four packs of Mountain Dew, five bags of Dorito's, Kent's CD, manuscript paper, and Kent's pirated copy of Sibelius 2.   
Every once in a while one would come out to use the bathroom or something of the like.   
"Hey, wait," Faye said one day, out of the blue. "Doesn't Andy have a bounty on his head?"   
"Not anymore." Jet said. "I talked to Ed. . .she did something Spike would like very much. . ." 

"I'm telling you, I'm not a pimp!" The self proclaimed Space Samurai shouted. 

"Yeah, he'd like that." Faye said. "Alright. Six weeks give us an exact date; we'll be there. What are we wearing?"   
"Something nice." Kent said. "I'm wearing my suit."   
Faye nodded. "See you then." 

"That looks really good on you, Casey," Andy said. Man, he hoped for the wedding to be over so he could rake in money.   
"Does it?" Casey asked, looking at her wedding gown. It looked beautiful on her; white crushed velvet top, with layers of lace under off white satin for the bottom. With a pair of white high heels, she'd look beautiful.   
God, Andy hated weddings.   
"What are we doing for music?" Casey asked, out of the blue.   
"Oh, we've got a band. The Saxon Ensemble or something' like that."   
Casey felt a pang of something inside her. She remembered Saxon, and Ensemble from somewhere, but she couldn't, for the life of her, remember where. "They're supposed to be really good."   
"That'll be. . .nice." Casey said, still confused about that pang of remembrance and, maybe even loneliness.   
"Yeah. I guess they're doing a special song or something'. Their conductor is Kent. . .Kent. . .Hart or something' like that."   
Again, another pang. Man, she hoped this didn't keep up. "Ahh. That should be. . .nice, for lack of a better term." They both shared a laugh.   
"Are you ready?" Andy asked.   
"Yeah." Casey said. "Five more weeks." 

"Five weeks. We gotta work." Kent said. "Alright, how far are you?"   
"I'm about three minutes in. Whadda you got?"   
"I have it starting with a G major chord. . ."   
Spike looked at Kent. "Are you serious?"   
"Actually, I'm not. I have it with a C major chord."   
"Good. That's what I have. Don't scare me like that."   
"Alright. Let's work." 

Corrie looked at the door. "Are you guys okay in there?"   
"Aside from the caffeine induced jitters, malnutrition, and extreme tiredness, we're good." Kent said.   
"Oh. Well, I baked you guys some cookies."   
Kent opened the door. The room was a mess. Three Dorito's bags were crumpled and thrown on the floor, and Mountain Dew cans littered the floor. "Umm. . .you can cook, right?"   
"Okay, we all pitched in." Corrie said.   
Kent took the plate they were on. "You have no idea how much we're gonna appreciate this."   
Corrie smiled. "You sure know how to make a girl feel good about herself."   
"That's what I've been told." Kent coyly smiled, and closed the door.   
Alyssa fetched Corrie. "How's it look?"   
"It's a mess in there, but it's all on the floor, so we won't have to worry about much, just sweeping it out. It sounds like they're getting close to done. 

"Worried?" Julia asked Faye.   
"A little." Faye replied. "I mean, I'm good, but not that good."   
Faye winced when she heard Jet trying to play his trombone. Emphasis on try.   
"Didn't you know how to play?" Faye asked. She was answered by Jet playing back with a short solo that sounded pretty good.   
Julia laughed. "You've been shown up."   
Faye scowled. "Why do I always look bad?" 

Stacy got out of her ship, a huge wad of Woolongs in hand. "Kent, I did get the bounty!"   
Colin sighed. "He's still not out."   
"Good lord, how long have they been in there!?" Stacy asked.   
"four weeks, two days." Alyssa said.   
"Good lord!" Stacy said, and stormed over to Kent's room. Before she could turn the nob, the door opened, letting out a cloud of smoke and a most pungent smell. Amidst it all was Kent, holding the score and Spike behind him, smiling like a madman.   
"We're done." Kent said. "And I'm taking a goddamned shower." 

"This is it, Casey." Andy said. "Two days."   
"Yeah." she replied, hugging him. "Two days."   
"Well, you know what they say, right?" Casey asked. "Get married, make Mary."   
Andy had to laugh. That was pretty witty. "Not bad. Where'd you learn that?"   
"I don't remember." She said. "I just know it."   
"Well, that's all good." Andy said. "I can hardly wait."   
"Neither can I." Casey said. "Neither can I." 

"Putting it together," Kent said to Jet and Alyssa, the two representatives of the two groups, "It's gonna sound good. I've got my tux, the guys have their tuxes. Alyssa, you need to fit Faye and the other girl for a dress. We show up there at 7:00. Ceremonies start at 9:30. Make sure you're there. Oh, yeah," Kent said.   
"I made sure that, if things go well, not only will we get Casey back, but we'll get Andy's bounty, too. We'll split it fifty-fifty."   
Faye smiled. "After all this work, we'd better get half. I had to buy a set of vibes."   
Kent smiled. "Don't worry about it. Just be there, we'll get Casey back. I'll make sure of it."   
"Alright. Tomorrow."   
"Yeah." Kent said. He and Alyssa walked towards their ship, while Faye took off.   
"You think we can really pull it off?" Alyssa asked.   
"Of course." Kent said. "I'm being optimistic, of course."   
Alyssa sighed. If it didn't work. . .all the work they had done would be for naught.   
"Let's get some sleep." 

"Ready to meet the Bebop crew again?" Kent asked, putting on his tux.   
"Ready as I'll ever be." Spike replied, putting on his jacket. "You?"   
"I'm ready to get my lost love back." Kent said. "Well, we'd better go. Man, I'm getting butterflies."   
Spike smiled and walked to Kent's room to get his bari sax. Kent sighed, and walked into the living room of the ship. Corrie, Alyssa, and Colin were ready to go with their respective instruments.   
"They gonna have a set down there?" Colin asked.   
"Yeah," Kent said. "Man, I'm nervous."   
"You look like it," Stacy said, coming out of her room in her Wind Ensemble dress. The Wind Ensemble dresses consisted of a black velvet top covering their chests. From there on, it was black satin.   
"Well, we're all ready. You have instruments?"   
"Of course." Corrie said, holding up her trumpet.   
"Alright. Let's get this done and over with." 

Faye, Jet and Julia all looked at the set they had to work with.   
"Wow." Jet said. "What a setup."   
"No kidding." Faye replied.   
"Hey, I'm gonna use the bathroom. I'll be right back." Julia said, looking for a bathroom.   
"Hey, Faye, you ready?" Kent asked, walking in with the rest of their crew.   
"Yeah, I'm ready." Faye said, and turned around to look at Kent. But it was what was beside him that confused her. Sure, she had met Kent's brother in the bar. Was that him?   
"Oh, yeah. I don't have a brother."   
Faye looked at Spike. Spike looked at Faye. Jet looked at Spike.   
"There's a lot of looking going on." Alyssa muttered to Corrie.   
"Spike, you bastard!" Faye said, walking up to him, then slapping him across the face.   
"I love you too, Faye. In a distant, hand off sorta way."   
Jet smiled. "Spike, that sounds so much like you. And boy, do we have a suprise for you. . ."   
"Spike?" He heard someone say. Spike turned on his heel to look right at Julia.   
"Julia?" He asked.   
"Is that really you?" Julia asked.   
"Yeah." Spike replied.   
Julia ran up and enveloped him in the tightest hug he had ever had the misfortune of getting into the clutches of.   
"Okay, okay, I get the point," Spike said, laughing. Laughing. Jet hadn't really seen him laugh. . .ever. Except when he came back for food before going off and trying to get himself killed.   
"I hate to break up this little reunion," Kent said, "But we gotta get set up."   
"Good point." Corrie said. "Let's get going. Plus I wanna work on our backup plan."   
Kent grimaced. Well, that was new. . ." 

Casey looked at herself in the mirror. This was it. Her wedding day. But that one pang of something kept hitting her. She didn't know what it was, but it was driving her nuts.   
She wasn't gonna let that destroy her wedding day. She just blocked it out. She was ready for this; and she wouldn't have it any other way. 

Kent, in hopes of maybe jarring Casey's memory a bit more, left an extra chair and stand up with a flute sitting in the chair. He had written out music for her, just so the effect would be just right.   
"Alright, guys. T minus ten minutes. Take a break, get some water, whatever, just be back here in five."   
Everyone but Spike and Alyssa left. Kent sat down in a stray chair, and sighed.   
"Butterflies?" Spike asked.   
"Yeah." Kent said.   
"Here, do me a favor." Spike said, standing up. "Look at my eyes."   
Kent stood up, brushed his suit off, and looked at his eyes. "So? They're different colors."   
"My right eye is a fake; I lost it in an accident. Even since then, my right eye looks at the past, my left at the present."   
Kent looked awkwardly at Spike.   
"And because I kept looking at the past, I went back to the syndicate and almost got myself killed. Alright, my point is this. If it doesn't work, don't wallow in your defeat. Keep your eyes on the future. Don't look back, or you'll end up regretting it. Don't end up like me storming a building against unbeatable odds. Just know that there's an infinite amount of fish in the sea. You can't go back to 2004, so the best thing you can do is to look for someone else. You can't win them all. Just enjoy yourself and know the actually quite disturbing fact we lived in the same room for five weeks on nothing but Mountain Dew and Doritos."   
Kent laughed. "You're right. Well, let's get this ball rolling." 

The procession began. Kent was quite pleased to find that Faye and Julia had worked on a basic recessional song, Canon in D. They conducted themselves, making his job easy. It was odd, Casey not having much family; only her grand-niece that was old enough to be her mother.   
Finally, Kent saw her: Casey Crestline, soon to be Casey Crestline Edgar. Unless, of course, he had anything to do with it.   
"Alright, remember what to do. Julia, you ready?"   
Julia nodded.   
"Alright, this one's for keeps." Kent counted off in a slow four. The first chord hit, and Julia began singing. Well, this was it. For keeps.   
Almost fluidly, he could feel their entire ensemble meshing. After several tense bars, Colin came in on the set with his brushes. He had the tempo. Kent took the break to look back at Casey.   
And nothing. Kent choked back with everything and concentrated on laying down one, two, three, four. 

Casey was in turmoil. Not only did she have the butterflies like mad, that ping came back with a vengeance when the band started playing her processional. She believed it was called Drops of Jupiter. Appropriate for a wedding on Jupiter.   
Or so she thought.   
She listened to the lyrics. Some things began to click together. But she blocked them out. This was her wedding day. She wasn't gonna let anything screw it up.   
But then she heard the part that brought her to tears even sixty-nine years ago.   
And everything began to click together. Her memories came back, all of them. She remembered what Sean had done all those years ago. She remembered Kent letting her go against his better judgment. She had always respected him for letting her do her thing, even if it wasn't in his best interest.   
And here he was. He had given up his "normal" future so that he could be with her.   
And then, she was back. The Casey Crestline of so long ago had returned. 

Kent saw the look of recognition on her face. She looked at him, and nodded in a sort of "leave it to me" way.   
The preacher said his thing, and then the moment of judgment. Did Kent let Casey do her thing, like so long ago, or did he draw a line?   
Finally, the preacher said it. "If anyone has reason that these two should not be wed, speak now, or forever hold your piece."   
Kent was about to speak, but was cut off by Casey herself. "I do." She said. "I don't love him."   
Kent's eyes sparked with a newfound fire. In his head, he counted the bounty he could get from everyone on Andy's side of the wedding hall. He came to a conclusion at about 100,000,000,000 woolongs. Enough to refit his Swordfish II. He was gonna love this.   
"But. . .but. . ." Andy began, "We had this all planned out!"   
Casey glared at him. "I refuse to marry you."   
Andy's face contorted into rage. "Goddammit, you bitch. . ."   
Everyone from Andy's side drew some sort of a gun. Everyone in the ensemble drew a gun of some sort and aimed.   
"I loved you with all my heart, and now you do this!?" He shouted. "I'm gonna enjoy this. . ."   
Andy turned around, and found it amazing that everyone had either been wounded or had their gun flung a good hundred feet away.   
"What the hell!?" Andy almost screamed.   
"Payback's a bitch, Edgar." Kent said. "Guys, pick a bounty. It's time to cash in."   
"Aww, dammit!" 

The entire ensemble plus Casey congregated on the Black Knight for something of a buffet that Alyssa, Corrie, Colin, and Jet put on. Both the Bebop and the Black Knight were filthy rich, and loving every minute of it.   
"It's food!" Jet called from the dining room. Kent and Spike were the first ones in. "I need some actual food. Doritos and Mountain Dew don't count."   
Both Spike and Kent served up copious amounts of food and sat down at a huge table overlooking a window facing backwards. Soon after, everyone had joined the table and were talking about the events of the last couple weeks.   
Casey cleared her throat to make something of an announcement. "Umm. . ." She began, "I guess I wanna thank you for coming to rescue me. Especially Colin, Corrie, Alyssa, Stacy, and especially Kent. From what I hear, Spike and Kent spent five weeks in Kent's room working on Drops of Jupiter working with nothing but manuscript paper, a pirated copy of Sibelius 2, forty-eight cans of Mountain Dew and five bags of chips."   
"True story." Kent said.   
"Anyway, thanks. A lot. Words really can't express my gratitude."   
Kent followed up on that. "Yeah, I'd also like to say thanks for helping Spike and I put this together. Thanks for listening and playing well, even though some of you haven't been playing for decades."   
A dull roar of cheers came from the group. "And with that," Kent said, "Eat to your heart's content!"   
And eat they did. Never before did any of them eat so well. After everyone had consumed their weight in food, they migrated to the living room.   
"And now, for your pleasure," Kent said, taking a DVD out of it's case, "The Ferris 2002-2003 Concert Band and Wind Ensemble. In concert."   
The recording began with both groups playing an arrangement of the national anthem. During the recording there was much talking and many comments being made, most of them by Spike, saying how the bari should be so much louder. Kent usually agreed.   
Finally, it was over, and everyone was about ready to doze off.   
"Alright!" Kent shouted. "One thing left, then we can head out." He took a piece of paper out of his pocket. "When we sign this, we'll officially all be partners of the BeBop Alliance. Or whatever it is we're gonna call it."   
"Wait a second. . ." Jet said. "Ya know what, screw it. Let's just do it." Jet signed it, followed by the rest of the BeBop crew, including Julia. Then, the Black Knight crew, including Casey signed it.   
"Now we're allies." Kent said. "Now, you don't have to go home but you can't stay here. Off with 'ya." 

"Did you seriously freeze yourselves so that I wouldn't be lonely?" Casey asked.   
"Yeah." Kent replied. "That's just how we work."   
"Wow." Casey said. "Nobody's done anything like that for me."   
Kent smiled. "Get used to it."   
"Hey," Casey asked, "Where am I gonna sleep?"   
"You can use my bedroom; I'll use the couch."   
"Alright," Casey said. "I guess I'll see you in the morning."   
"Yeah." Kent said. "G'night."   
"'Night." Casey replied, and walked into Kent's bedroom.   
Things had suddenly gotten a lot better. Casey was back and was with Kent, Julia and Spike were alive and with the Bebop, and everyone was happy.   
But Kent couldn't help but forget about a loose end. Then, he remembered it. He scoffed a little bit. "I think I'll just clue Spike onto it later on."   
Heh. The "Space Samurai" was worth a whopping 100,000,000 woolongs.   
Oh, things were looking a lot better.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
